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A House in the Country
"[I]f only we could make the manor subscribe a little bit towards her own upkeep," we fretted.
But she was an aristocratic lady on our hands. All ideas for making her work for a living were wrecked on the fact that she was born to be served and not to serve.
Six friends have spent the dark, deprived years of World War II fantasising-in air raid shelters and food queues-about an idyllic life in a massive country house. With the coming of peace, they seize on a seductive newspaper ad and take possession of a neglected 33-room manor in Kent, with acres of lavish gardens and an elderly gardener yearning to revive the estate's glory days. But the realities of managing this behemoth soon dawn, including a knife-wielding maid, unruly pigs, and a paying guest who tells harrowing stories of her time in the French Resistance, not to mention the friends' conscientious efforts to offer staff a fair 40-hour work week and paid overtime. And then there's the ghost of an overworked scullery maid . . .
Based on the actual experiences of Ruth Adam, her husband, and their friends, A House in the Country is a witty and touching novel about the perils of dreams come true. But it's also a constantly entertaining tale packed with fascinating details of post-war life-and about the realities of life in the kind of house most of us only experience via Downton Abbey.
But she was an aristocratic lady on our hands. All ideas for making her work for a living were wrecked on the fact that she was born to be served and not to serve.
Six friends have spent the dark, deprived years of World War II fantasising-in air raid shelters and food queues-about an idyllic life in a massive country house. With the coming of peace, they seize on a seductive newspaper ad and take possession of a neglected 33-room manor in Kent, with acres of lavish gardens and an elderly gardener yearning to revive the estate's glory days. But the realities of managing this behemoth soon dawn, including a knife-wielding maid, unruly pigs, and a paying guest who tells harrowing stories of her time in the French Resistance, not to mention the friends' conscientious efforts to offer staff a fair 40-hour work week and paid overtime. And then there's the ghost of an overworked scullery maid . . .
Based on the actual experiences of Ruth Adam, her husband, and their friends, A House in the Country is a witty and touching novel about the perils of dreams come true. But it's also a constantly entertaining tale packed with fascinating details of post-war life-and about the realities of life in the kind of house most of us only experience via Downton Abbey.
206 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
About the author
Ruth Adam
20 books12 followersRuth Augusta King was the daughter of a vicar in a Nottinghamshire mining village. After school in Yorkshire, she taught for five years, before marrying the journalist Kenneth Adam and moving with him first to Manchester and then to London. She travelled a great deal, pursuing her wide-ranging interests in education and social policy. Four children were born between 1937 and 1947, by which time the Adams had moved to a large house outside London to live communally with other families. During the war Ruth Adam worked, like many other writers of her generation, in the Ministry of Information; meanwhile her husband joined the BBC, where he later became Director of Television. Ruth Adam wrote twelve novels between 1937 and 1961, all of them concerned with social issues; she also co-authored, with Kitty Muggeridge, a biography of Beatrice Webb. A Woman's Place, a history of women's lives in the twentieth century, appeared in 1975.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 12, 2019
It was a plain hardback book without a dust jacket, sitting on a shelf waiting to catch somebody’s eye. Many people would have passed it by but I recognised the name of an author who has been published by both Virago and Persephone. It had a title that I was sure I had read about, and that suggested the book might well be my kind of book.
It was.
Whether it is fact or fiction isn’t entirely clear, but the author’s words and my reading makes me think that it is fiction lightly fictionalised, to smooth rough edges and make it work as a story.
‘This is a cautionary tale, and true.
Never fall in love with a house. The one we fell in love with wasn’t even ours. If she had been, she would have ruined us just the same. We found out some things about her afterwards, among them what she did to that poor old parson, back in the eighteen-seventies. If we had found them out earlier… ? It wouldn’t have made any difference. We were in that maudlin state when reasonable argument is quite useless.’
It began during the war as a group of Londoners, family and friends, spun stories of the home they would love to have when peace finally came.
‘It must be one of those houses that’s been built, bit by bit. over hundred of years.’
‘It must have great windows that let all the sunlight in’
‘It ought to have a river running through the garden.’
‘There’ll be three or four kitchens, with red-flagged floors and hams hanging from the ceiling and we shan’t have to live in any of them.’
‘It must stand alone. Not another house within half a mile, at the very least. There must be miles and miles of green fields, washing right up to its garden walls.’
They hadn’t thought that it would ever be a reality, but not long after the war one of them saw an advertisement in the personal column of The Times that sounded just like their house.
When they thought about it, they realised that if they pooled their resources the dream could become a reality; and when they went down to see the house they agreed that it must.
‘They say that when a stranger’s face seems familiar, it is because it is like a forgotten face of your childhood. I don’t know if that is true about people. But I know it is about houses. When I stood for the first time in the hall of the manor, it was not strange to me. It was the house I had promised to have, so that my mother could come and stay in it.’
The house was everything they had hoped it would be, but of course there were practicalities and problems that they hadn’t considered. In the post-war world the house had come relatively cheaply because many people had realised that there were more comfortable ways to live. War-time regulations still on place put limits on the refurbishment of the property, and the age where people either were or had household staff was over.
There were wonderful tales told as maids came and went. One girl arrived with a suitor in the forces, went out in clothes she took from the wardrobe of one of the household and left expecting a baby; another had a husband who pilfered money from the box by the telephone; and another seemed perfect until she went for the cook with a knife. Finally they found two girls who worked happily and effectively together, and later they employed a married couple who were hardworking but possibly a little too down-to-earth ….
Luckily the group was blessed with a gardener cum handyman who loved the house and knew how everything worked and how to keep the wheels running smoothly.
The house itself was a joy
‘Every bedroom had a dressing-room. We all became remarkably tidy. You wouldn’t have known our bedrooms as belonging to the same people who had once had coats flung on the bed and overflowing suitcases on all the chairs. The house imposed order upon us, whether we liked it or not. When you have thirty-three rooms, you feel obliged to keep something in each one, and the possessions which had filled the little suburban house to bursting-point now vanished quietly into the depths of the manor.’
Most of the management of the household fell onto the shoulders of the author, because she was the only one who didn’t go out to work and because she and her husband – who worked for the BBC – were the only ones who had brought children. She coped wonderfully, with the people, with the kitchens, and with everything else that came with running a manor house and grounds.
She loved it, but she saw it clear-sightedly.
‘She was an aristocratic lady on our hands. All ideas for making her work for a living were wrecked on the fact that she was born to be served and not to serve.’
Her tone and her storytelling were wonderful. She caught the changing times perfectly, and she wove in some astute social commentary.
‘The gracious life in the front wing, after all, depended entirely upon service in the back wing, and it didn’t seem a justifiable way of living.’
The story is very focused on the house and the experience. I couldn’t tell you much at all about her children, the other members of the household, or what happened before or after. That served the book well, and the account of life in the house – the stories that could be told and the small details that could be recalled – were so engaging and so well drawn that I only thought about that when I put the book down.
Inevitably, over a period of time, the household changed. One man grew tired of commuting, and of living with other people’s children. One woman, who had been romantically involved with some-one else in the household, married someone who definitely didn’t one to move in. Another man was sent to work overseas.
That meant that the household finances were terribly stretched. Sub-letting part of the property was an unhappy experience, but providing lodgings for holiday-makers was much more successful and provided some lovely stories.
‘She loved to hear someone tell a long, painstakingly funny story brought back from the village pub. She never could follow the story. It was the reception she waited for.
“So the English really do laugh out loud when friends are together,” she would say contentedly.
We supplied her with ‘The Edwardians’ to read in the evenings, explaining the phrases to her when she got stuck. Then we sent her off, with a packet of sandwiches to spend the day at Knole, telling her it was Chevron House, in which the book was set. We awaited her return with sympathetic interest. She came in and looked at us speechlessly.
“It’s too much,” she said at last. “It was too beautiful, and too large. I’m going straight to bed.” ‘
The author continued to love the house – her bond deepened when her fourth child was born there – but in the end she had to acknowledge that the workload was too great and the finances could not be managed.
She was philosophical.
‘In April when we bought daffodils off a street- barrow and say to each other when we go home, ” I suppose the magnolia must be out,” we always add, “Thank goodness someone else has got to sweep up the fallen petals.” ‘
I am so pleased that I found this book, and it would be lovely if it could be reissued; because I can think of many other people who would love it too.
It was.
Whether it is fact or fiction isn’t entirely clear, but the author’s words and my reading makes me think that it is fiction lightly fictionalised, to smooth rough edges and make it work as a story.
‘This is a cautionary tale, and true.
Never fall in love with a house. The one we fell in love with wasn’t even ours. If she had been, she would have ruined us just the same. We found out some things about her afterwards, among them what she did to that poor old parson, back in the eighteen-seventies. If we had found them out earlier… ? It wouldn’t have made any difference. We were in that maudlin state when reasonable argument is quite useless.’
It began during the war as a group of Londoners, family and friends, spun stories of the home they would love to have when peace finally came.
‘It must be one of those houses that’s been built, bit by bit. over hundred of years.’
‘It must have great windows that let all the sunlight in’
‘It ought to have a river running through the garden.’
‘There’ll be three or four kitchens, with red-flagged floors and hams hanging from the ceiling and we shan’t have to live in any of them.’
‘It must stand alone. Not another house within half a mile, at the very least. There must be miles and miles of green fields, washing right up to its garden walls.’
They hadn’t thought that it would ever be a reality, but not long after the war one of them saw an advertisement in the personal column of The Times that sounded just like their house.
When they thought about it, they realised that if they pooled their resources the dream could become a reality; and when they went down to see the house they agreed that it must.
‘They say that when a stranger’s face seems familiar, it is because it is like a forgotten face of your childhood. I don’t know if that is true about people. But I know it is about houses. When I stood for the first time in the hall of the manor, it was not strange to me. It was the house I had promised to have, so that my mother could come and stay in it.’
The house was everything they had hoped it would be, but of course there were practicalities and problems that they hadn’t considered. In the post-war world the house had come relatively cheaply because many people had realised that there were more comfortable ways to live. War-time regulations still on place put limits on the refurbishment of the property, and the age where people either were or had household staff was over.
There were wonderful tales told as maids came and went. One girl arrived with a suitor in the forces, went out in clothes she took from the wardrobe of one of the household and left expecting a baby; another had a husband who pilfered money from the box by the telephone; and another seemed perfect until she went for the cook with a knife. Finally they found two girls who worked happily and effectively together, and later they employed a married couple who were hardworking but possibly a little too down-to-earth ….
Luckily the group was blessed with a gardener cum handyman who loved the house and knew how everything worked and how to keep the wheels running smoothly.
The house itself was a joy
‘Every bedroom had a dressing-room. We all became remarkably tidy. You wouldn’t have known our bedrooms as belonging to the same people who had once had coats flung on the bed and overflowing suitcases on all the chairs. The house imposed order upon us, whether we liked it or not. When you have thirty-three rooms, you feel obliged to keep something in each one, and the possessions which had filled the little suburban house to bursting-point now vanished quietly into the depths of the manor.’
Most of the management of the household fell onto the shoulders of the author, because she was the only one who didn’t go out to work and because she and her husband – who worked for the BBC – were the only ones who had brought children. She coped wonderfully, with the people, with the kitchens, and with everything else that came with running a manor house and grounds.
She loved it, but she saw it clear-sightedly.
‘She was an aristocratic lady on our hands. All ideas for making her work for a living were wrecked on the fact that she was born to be served and not to serve.’
Her tone and her storytelling were wonderful. She caught the changing times perfectly, and she wove in some astute social commentary.
‘The gracious life in the front wing, after all, depended entirely upon service in the back wing, and it didn’t seem a justifiable way of living.’
The story is very focused on the house and the experience. I couldn’t tell you much at all about her children, the other members of the household, or what happened before or after. That served the book well, and the account of life in the house – the stories that could be told and the small details that could be recalled – were so engaging and so well drawn that I only thought about that when I put the book down.
Inevitably, over a period of time, the household changed. One man grew tired of commuting, and of living with other people’s children. One woman, who had been romantically involved with some-one else in the household, married someone who definitely didn’t one to move in. Another man was sent to work overseas.
That meant that the household finances were terribly stretched. Sub-letting part of the property was an unhappy experience, but providing lodgings for holiday-makers was much more successful and provided some lovely stories.
‘She loved to hear someone tell a long, painstakingly funny story brought back from the village pub. She never could follow the story. It was the reception she waited for.
“So the English really do laugh out loud when friends are together,” she would say contentedly.
We supplied her with ‘The Edwardians’ to read in the evenings, explaining the phrases to her when she got stuck. Then we sent her off, with a packet of sandwiches to spend the day at Knole, telling her it was Chevron House, in which the book was set. We awaited her return with sympathetic interest. She came in and looked at us speechlessly.
“It’s too much,” she said at last. “It was too beautiful, and too large. I’m going straight to bed.” ‘
The author continued to love the house – her bond deepened when her fourth child was born there – but in the end she had to acknowledge that the workload was too great and the finances could not be managed.
She was philosophical.
‘In April when we bought daffodils off a street- barrow and say to each other when we go home, ” I suppose the magnolia must be out,” we always add, “Thank goodness someone else has got to sweep up the fallen petals.” ‘
I am so pleased that I found this book, and it would be lovely if it could be reissued; because I can think of many other people who would love it too.
June 19, 2021
Although it’s advertised as a novel this is more thinly-disguised memoir drawing on Ruth Adam’s experiences just after WW2. Adam, her family and close friends share a still-familiar dream of abandoning city life with its grime, its noise, and unpredictable neighbours. A desire intensified by their surroundings in London and its associations with years of wartime trauma. They have a vision of rural bliss, large gardens festooned with flowers, a place to grow veg and rear hens, all miles from the nearest people, so they lease a vast, isolated, Downton-esque manor house in the Kent countryside. It’s run-down but gorgeous, and comes with a gem of a caretaker, the ever-resourceful Howard once head gardener for the former lord of the manor. But Adam’s story is couched as a ‘cautionary tale’ demonstrating happiness is hard to come by no matter what your surroundings are, and the kinds of experiments in living made famous by Bloomsbury-style bohemians are not as glamorous in reality as they may look on paper. Adam’s a fluid, incredibly entertaining writer, brilliant at depicting the ups and downs of domestic life after the war and the ins-and-outs of country communities. I raced through this one, completely absorbed in the characters, the atmospheric setting, the countless anecdotes from the surly villagers, demanding weekend guests and paying visitors to the eccentric, sought-after staff. For someone like me who doesn’t eat meat some passages about raising animals for food were a bit uncomfortable, but fortunately they’re few and far between. Not memorable literature but for anyone who likes this type of vintage fiction a great read.
Read
May 6, 2021Fascinating account of a group of Londoners taking a manor house in Kent post WW2 and attempting to make it work. Really interesting on the economics and practicalities, plus a great glimpse into post war life. Slightly Gerald Durrell feel to it.
September 24, 2022
3.5 stars. I read it in two days. It was interesting. I guess it’s between a memoir and fiction. That’s the way the book is characterized on the back cover of my Dean Street Press re-issue of the book. It’s about Ruth Adams and her husband joining with several other friends immediately after World War II to rent a 33-room country house and all of the stuff that went on for several years while they resided there. I love to look at pictures of country homes (inside and out) and dream about living in one. But after reading this book, I realize that they come with a lot of problems. They were built/designed for well-to-do people to live in some sections of the house and the servants and maids and kitchen help to live in other parts (and never the twain shall meet). Imagine a kitchen being in a basement cut off entirely from the living quarters.
Still, I wouldn’t mind living in one for a long weekend. And sit reading a book in the library besides a nice fire in the fireplace with it snowing outside. 🙂 🙃
• Reviews:
• https://www.stuckinabook.com/a-house-...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2020/...
• https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2...
• https://louloureads.wordpress.com/202...
Still, I wouldn’t mind living in one for a long weekend. And sit reading a book in the library besides a nice fire in the fireplace with it snowing outside. 🙂 🙃
• Reviews:
• https://www.stuckinabook.com/a-house-...
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2020/...
• https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2...
• https://louloureads.wordpress.com/202...
February 21, 2022
An excellent memoir of the authors time living in a shared manor house in the Kent countryside. Red up of the flying bombs and air raids, a group of friends dream of a country idyll. After the war, that dream comes true, but it's not all a bed of roses.
June 25, 2024
Are you one of those people who entertain fantasies of living in a country cottage? If you are and you value your dreams, don’t read this book.
A House in the Country (I admit it, I bought the book because of its title) is autobiographical. Ruth Adam, her husband and children, and a circle of friends brought close by surviving World War II pooled their resources to rent a centuries-old manor in Kent. After years of bombs and depredations, they could think of nothing more delightful than to live in a thirty-four-room mansion set in four acres of garden, with a stream running by. They found their piece of paradise and settled in.
At first the account of their rural adventure is charming, their communal way of life delightful. But gradually, relentlessly, reality asserts itself. Servants move on. The gardener retires, then dies. Equipment fails. Residents of the house move on to other lives, taking their contribution to the household expenses with them. Life becomes progressively harder, then grimmer. The Adams run out of money. It’s a buzz-kill for those fantasies you like to entertain.
I went into this book expecting a novel, but it’s really more of an episodic memoir. I was reminded at first of Diary of a Provincial Lady, but the author lost her sense of humor as the years went by. I felt sorry for her children, losing the home they grew up in and having to settle for cramped lives in town. If you take on this book (and it is pretty well written), be prepared for a downer.
A House in the Country (I admit it, I bought the book because of its title) is autobiographical. Ruth Adam, her husband and children, and a circle of friends brought close by surviving World War II pooled their resources to rent a centuries-old manor in Kent. After years of bombs and depredations, they could think of nothing more delightful than to live in a thirty-four-room mansion set in four acres of garden, with a stream running by. They found their piece of paradise and settled in.
At first the account of their rural adventure is charming, their communal way of life delightful. But gradually, relentlessly, reality asserts itself. Servants move on. The gardener retires, then dies. Equipment fails. Residents of the house move on to other lives, taking their contribution to the household expenses with them. Life becomes progressively harder, then grimmer. The Adams run out of money. It’s a buzz-kill for those fantasies you like to entertain.
I went into this book expecting a novel, but it’s really more of an episodic memoir. I was reminded at first of Diary of a Provincial Lady, but the author lost her sense of humor as the years went by. I felt sorry for her children, losing the home they grew up in and having to settle for cramped lives in town. If you take on this book (and it is pretty well written), be prepared for a downer.
September 25, 2022
This is a lightly fictionalized memoir of Adam's eight years living in a manor house in the English countryside in the time immediately after WWII. My house has a fireplace which I use from time to time in the winter. I would use it more frequently if maintaining the fire, bringing in wood, and cleaning the fireplace were less a burden. Now imagine living in a 33 room mansion without central heating where six adults and 3 children live and with only two people to not only to clean all the fireplaces but also every other room used by the inhabitants AND do the all the laundry and all the cooking. And let's not even talk about the labor required of maintaining the grounds. The cost of living in such a home was only doable as long as Adams and her husband shared it with Adam's brother and three friends. Still, for a while, it worked for them and it was a pleasure to read this largely plotless account of amusing anecdotes of their trials and tribulations. I've only seen the TV show, but in its style and content, it reminded me of Jean Kerr's Please Don't Eat the Daisies or of a book I have read: namely Shirley Jackson's lightly fictionalized account of raising a family in rural Vermont, Life Among the Savages. I think, however, what interested me most about this book was its portrayal of life just after the war and Adam's enthusiasm for the new order of government welfare and social programs and her family's insistence of paying their servants a living wage. Other books of this era that I have read (looking at you Angela Thirkell) are critical of the post war labor government and lament the loss of the system which enabled the rich to live with the support of a small army of poorly paid servants.
March 2, 2022
3.5 This is the story of a group of individuals, including one married couple and their children, who lived in London during WWII and spent the hours in bomb shelters and food queues dreaming of life in the country. After the war, they make their dream a reality and pool their money to rent a 33-room manor house in Kent that comes with its own caretaker, Howard. Howard is the head gardener, but he has lived at the manor his whole life and knows the secrets to the water supply, the troublesome boiler, and the history of the last owner and “the way things were done”. On the surface, this is the story of the trials and joys of adapting to the house and finding how the house both expands and limits each person who lives there. The narrator has a lovely voice. She writes with humor and there were many times I laughed out loud.
There is a sober undertone to this book, though. The house itself is telling the story of England’s changing society. When Ruth and her friends have good, reliable help in the house, it’s a place of refuge. But as the old guard (Howard) passes away and “help” becomes harder to find, the manor becomes less and less hospitable. There are some scenes that are funny because of how Ruth tells them, but also made me cringe and long for them to be free of the burdens of the manor.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. There are times when the writing was wonderful and made me forget that I was reading. There are some standout scenes in my mind (the pigs, Christmas). I’m sure I would pick this up again for a good laugh and a reminder that my own life could be a lot more chaotic than it is.
There is a sober undertone to this book, though. The house itself is telling the story of England’s changing society. When Ruth and her friends have good, reliable help in the house, it’s a place of refuge. But as the old guard (Howard) passes away and “help” becomes harder to find, the manor becomes less and less hospitable. There are some scenes that are funny because of how Ruth tells them, but also made me cringe and long for them to be free of the burdens of the manor.
Overall, I really enjoyed this. There are times when the writing was wonderful and made me forget that I was reading. There are some standout scenes in my mind (the pigs, Christmas). I’m sure I would pick this up again for a good laugh and a reminder that my own life could be a lot more chaotic than it is.
May 22, 2018
Anthony Longden's essay in Slightly Foxed on this long-out-of-print book persuaded me to seek out a second-hand copy. I read it in a day.
It's a gentle story written and set shortly after the Second World War. A group of six friends (and a couple of young children), ground down by wartime urban living, decide to club together to live communally in a large country house in Kent, which they had loved at first sight.
Adam describes the mostly humorous, but sometimes poignant, serirs of adventures and disasters which follow. The characters feel absolutely complete and true-to-life in a fashion that is rarely true in a book this short.
Adam's story naturally describes the rapid change in social mores over the post-war period - this was particularly interesting and eye-opening for me as someone who didn't live through it! This story of love for a house is a neat allegory for romantic love, and viewed in that light the imagery seems all the more beautiful.
I have no idea whether this book is entirely fiction or whether it is based on Adam's experiences.
This is not the sort of book I would typically pick up, but I thoroughly enjoyed it - and should properly thank Anthony for the recommendation!
It's a gentle story written and set shortly after the Second World War. A group of six friends (and a couple of young children), ground down by wartime urban living, decide to club together to live communally in a large country house in Kent, which they had loved at first sight.
Adam describes the mostly humorous, but sometimes poignant, serirs of adventures and disasters which follow. The characters feel absolutely complete and true-to-life in a fashion that is rarely true in a book this short.
Adam's story naturally describes the rapid change in social mores over the post-war period - this was particularly interesting and eye-opening for me as someone who didn't live through it! This story of love for a house is a neat allegory for romantic love, and viewed in that light the imagery seems all the more beautiful.
I have no idea whether this book is entirely fiction or whether it is based on Adam's experiences.
This is not the sort of book I would typically pick up, but I thoroughly enjoyed it - and should properly thank Anthony for the recommendation!
June 25, 2022
Humorous and poignant real-life account of six Londoners who seek to put the hardships and deprivations of World War II behind them by sharing a manor house in the green fields of Kent. Quirky locals, impossible subtenants, ghosts, worrisome wildlife, an ever-encroaching garden and a crumbling house with a mind of its own provide ample proof that an idyllic country dream isn't all it's cracked up to be. Adam's 1957 wry memoir is beautifully written, entertaining and had me laughing out loud. If you like works such as A Year in Provence and Under the Tuscan Sun, you'll enjoy this one.
November 21, 2020
First published in 1957, currently revived by Dean Street Press (Thank you Russell for introducing me to Dean Street Press. Totally addicted). A tale of friends renting a 33 room manor house in the English countryside just after WW II. Based on true experiences.
January 11, 2020
although this wasn't as happy and full of golden sunshine and successful making do and prospering as I would have liked, it was an engrossing read.
November 14, 2020
Interesting story of friends who rent a 33 room manor house after WWII. I found parts of this true story fascinating, but found it to be a slow read.
July 8, 2021
This is a strange little novel, telling the story of 6 friends who flee London in 1938 and lease a 33 room manor house (never too much space). Told in the first person by the wife of the married couple among the 6, early on we realize this will not be an amazing success story. Funny at times, they realize this is much more work and good help is hard to find. Should make for a good book club discussion as I have opinions.
September 10, 2022
This was worth reading, but not what I was expecting. Interesting, but more than a little depressing at times and even grim. But interesting! I had no excuse in my expectations since the author starts out by telling us living in the house was not going to work out! So you may enjoy this book if you don't have unrealistic expectations.
February 12, 2023
The novel (I think it is safe to still call this a novel, just) – is based on Ruth Adam’s own experiences of sharing a large country house with some other families after the war.
After living through years of wartime hardship, bad food, cold, unsuitable housing, blackouts and rationing Ruth and her friends decide to live the dream they have had so long. The fantasy life they talked about through years of hardship was to live in a house in the country where they will have space and privacy and the opportunity to enjoy the world around them in all its beauty. They envisage open fires and good food – a larder stocked with hams. Here is the true story of living in a 33 roomed manor house with many acres of ground and it was a fabulously enjoyable read.
After living through years of wartime hardship, bad food, cold, unsuitable housing, blackouts and rationing Ruth and her friends decide to live the dream they have had so long. The fantasy life they talked about through years of hardship was to live in a house in the country where they will have space and privacy and the opportunity to enjoy the world around them in all its beauty. They envisage open fires and good food – a larder stocked with hams. Here is the true story of living in a 33 roomed manor house with many acres of ground and it was a fabulously enjoyable read.
February 16, 2021
Dean Street Press has a wonderful imprint called Furrowed Middlebrow, of which this book is on their list. Based on the experiences of the author, six friends are tired of living in London after WWII, and decide that life in the country would be more appealing. The manor which they purchase is run down and neglected, but it appeals to the group. The novel tells of their experiences-good and bad. Absolutely charming.
March 17, 2021
Funny little stories of characters and situations. Educational, as the owner of a manor house it made me greatful but reminded me of what hard work it is. Also discusses issues at the time, some obvious such as expectations and forced limitations of women, challenges for families after the war and how things look on the other side. I liked it.
September 7, 2022
My first Dean Street Press reissue; hopefully I will stumble upon more. It's a lightly fictionalized memoir of idealistic young people moving to a manor in the country, full of hilarious, charming, and sometimes mildly horrifying vignettes. I didn't understand any of the references to BBC personalities or current-day events, but that didn't take anything away from this fun read.
November 8, 2020
This reminds me of Escape to the Country. Several people joined together to buy a 33 room manor house in Kent after the war. It didn't work out as they had planned. The author and her family stayed for 8 years. Lovely descriptions of country life.
November 27, 2020
This totally adorable, semi-autobiographical novel was a true delight. You can read more about this novel from my book review on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2020/10/1...
July 11, 2021
Although classified as a novel, this book is to be read as something else: a memoir, or rather an ode to the English country house, to a time long past, to the people who came out of the Second World War with a strong survivalist mentality. These times and these people seem lost forever.
In terms of plot, there is hardly any - six war friends (the narrator, her husband and four others, plus their children) rent a 33-room mansion in Kent because they dream of an idyllic life of green open spaces, weekends spent with friends who come down from London, listening to birdsong while breakfasting in the dining room with french windows that open onto a terrace... As soon as their dream comes true, however, the house, which is the main character of the book, undermines their every effort of subduing it and the surrounding gardens. They believed they were retiring from busy city life, but in reality what happens is that the house takes over them and their meagre resources, drives them hard and leaves them no time to enjoy a peaceful country existence or each other's company, for that matter.
The other characters that come and go from the house are important merely in as much they are connected to the house (the head gardener, the maids, the tenants, a married couple employed to take care of the house, friends who come for longer or shorter stays). They do not have a voice of their own and are only seen from the narrator's perspective.
There is a strong love-hate relationship between the narrator and the house, that continues for eight years and you get the feeling they might never leave, in spite of the difficulties they are faced with on a daily basis. Many times they stumble upon a solution to a particular problem at the last minute, such as when they finally though they should sub-let the part of the house they were not using, in order to afford to pay for the rest. However, we know from the first page the relationship is doomed and expect the last chapter to see what is finally too much for them to bear.
What I enjoyed about this book is the quiet humour with which the author recounts the hard work done in service to the house, the many ways in which the house seems to retaliate against the inhabitants, their attempts at keeping degradation under control.
In terms of plot, there is hardly any - six war friends (the narrator, her husband and four others, plus their children) rent a 33-room mansion in Kent because they dream of an idyllic life of green open spaces, weekends spent with friends who come down from London, listening to birdsong while breakfasting in the dining room with french windows that open onto a terrace... As soon as their dream comes true, however, the house, which is the main character of the book, undermines their every effort of subduing it and the surrounding gardens. They believed they were retiring from busy city life, but in reality what happens is that the house takes over them and their meagre resources, drives them hard and leaves them no time to enjoy a peaceful country existence or each other's company, for that matter.
The other characters that come and go from the house are important merely in as much they are connected to the house (the head gardener, the maids, the tenants, a married couple employed to take care of the house, friends who come for longer or shorter stays). They do not have a voice of their own and are only seen from the narrator's perspective.
There is a strong love-hate relationship between the narrator and the house, that continues for eight years and you get the feeling they might never leave, in spite of the difficulties they are faced with on a daily basis. Many times they stumble upon a solution to a particular problem at the last minute, such as when they finally though they should sub-let the part of the house they were not using, in order to afford to pay for the rest. However, we know from the first page the relationship is doomed and expect the last chapter to see what is finally too much for them to bear.
What I enjoyed about this book is the quiet humour with which the author recounts the hard work done in service to the house, the many ways in which the house seems to retaliate against the inhabitants, their attempts at keeping degradation under control.
January 20, 2022
This is one of the most enjoyable books I've read recently. This is the true story of the author's family and two other couples who purchased a manor house in the countryside after World War II. All of them dreamed of being the perfect English people in a perfect English manor, and since wartime rations and materials were more readily available, they jumped at the chance to live the life of a country squire.
Except it wasn't quite what they were expecting. As the author states, the house was built with the expectation of plenty of staff to help keep it going. At the time of their purchase, only the old family gardener remains, and he is of great help to them for years after. But this is the story of what is actually required to keep a huge manor house and grounds going when you are six adults and a few young children. As they go along, the other couples move on and out, so that by the end of their eight-year tenure, the author, her husband, and their young children are the only ones left living there. Even once they open things up to tenants and boarders, it just isn't working and they sell it and move back to London.
Of course, they foolishly think that once they have moved, that will be the end of that. Until they receive legal notice that they owe a huge sum of money because of "dilapidations."
Adam writes in such a way, that you feel she is one of your friends, telling you about her experiences while living in the manor house. The lovely parts, the frustrations, the money worries are all presented with enough good humor to make reading even about terrible things enjoyable.
Except it wasn't quite what they were expecting. As the author states, the house was built with the expectation of plenty of staff to help keep it going. At the time of their purchase, only the old family gardener remains, and he is of great help to them for years after. But this is the story of what is actually required to keep a huge manor house and grounds going when you are six adults and a few young children. As they go along, the other couples move on and out, so that by the end of their eight-year tenure, the author, her husband, and their young children are the only ones left living there. Even once they open things up to tenants and boarders, it just isn't working and they sell it and move back to London.
Of course, they foolishly think that once they have moved, that will be the end of that. Until they receive legal notice that they owe a huge sum of money because of "dilapidations."
Adam writes in such a way, that you feel she is one of your friends, telling you about her experiences while living in the manor house. The lovely parts, the frustrations, the money worries are all presented with enough good humor to make reading even about terrible things enjoyable.
July 10, 2021
A House in the Country describes the experience of six friends who purchase a large manor house in Kent, U.K. after World War 2. Friends come and go from the house and they deal with issues such as a ghost of a scullery maid, rats, and renting out rooms to keep the manor going.
It’s rare I find a book that doesn’t work for me. This book is lifeless. There is no discernible plot thread through the novel. The characters are so underdeveloped I can’t even tell them apart. The book lacks almost all dialogue except for the occasional statement followed by “we said.” Did everyone say it at once? Why is it in quotes? Is this like a Greek chorus? Most of the drama of the novel comes because they can’t afford the house, and they want to keep it (though the narrator sounds like she hates it) and then they remember they can rent out some of the 33 rooms they aren’t using. I found this book so boring and I wouldn’t have continued if not for the book club.
It’s rare I find a book that doesn’t work for me. This book is lifeless. There is no discernible plot thread through the novel. The characters are so underdeveloped I can’t even tell them apart. The book lacks almost all dialogue except for the occasional statement followed by “we said.” Did everyone say it at once? Why is it in quotes? Is this like a Greek chorus? Most of the drama of the novel comes because they can’t afford the house, and they want to keep it (though the narrator sounds like she hates it) and then they remember they can rent out some of the 33 rooms they aren’t using. I found this book so boring and I wouldn’t have continued if not for the book club.
September 29, 2021
This novel reads like a journal and is based on some of the author's own experiences. I loved it. Basically, a British family and some of their friends have a dream of a life of abundance in a country house following WWII. They subsequently answer an ad and fall in love with a large manor house which they think they can afford by pooling their resources. The story features the changing cast of the residents and the few workers they enlist to help them manage house, land and animals over the years. Of course the house, a character in its own right, is a never-ending money pit they struggle to keep up with amid daily challenges. The woman narrator is a wife and mother and her sometimes amusing, sometimes difficult or poignant struggles to "make-do" or keep things going are the meat of the story.
May 29, 2021
I was happy to find this charming novel/memoir. The bits about life in post-war England were interesting but the emotional heart of the book was the writer's love/hate relationship with the manor house. They love the space, the gracious proportions of the rooms, the beautiful details, the natural world surrounding them, but the hardships were also extraordinary. She obviously kept wrestling with it for most of her life. As much as I wanted it to work out so her family could stay, it's the realism that elevates the book.
July 10, 2021
This actually is a memoir or diary disguised as fiction of the author's family's time in a neglected 33-room manse in Kent after WW II.
Thinking they were escaping the bombings of the city, the family did not understand all the work and personnel it would take to keep this place running. Definitely a case of "be careful what you wish for."
No plot, just a bunch of "characters" (in both the literal and the figurative meanings). Just a peaceful and slightly humorous read.
Thinking they were escaping the bombings of the city, the family did not understand all the work and personnel it would take to keep this place running. Definitely a case of "be careful what you wish for."
No plot, just a bunch of "characters" (in both the literal and the figurative meanings). Just a peaceful and slightly humorous read.
June 13, 2022
Although this is described as a novel, it reads like a true story, and is certainly based on the author's experience. It is funny and interesting (particularly as you can read about the difficulties from the comfort of your armchair). The characters, war-weary and tired of post WWII London, make a good effort to make a go of living in a grand house in the country.
July 15, 2021
An enjoyable story about the challenges of living in a large country house without the means to really enjoy it. It gives a good idea about what it was like after the war with the way the country was struggling economically. Very interesting and humorously written but also sad.
May 28, 2022
Fruitlands redux. Dreamers move to the country together. Plan to live well in a socialist fashion with produce, pigs, etc. Woman with many children ends up doing all the work, ruins her health, moves back to city in debt.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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